It’s possible for Texas to lose to TCU and still have made progress through the first four games.

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Frogs coach Gary Patterson is one of the most prepared head coaches in the history of the game, and the Little General has figured out over the past four years how to beat Texas handily. The average score during this four-game losing streak: 38-8, Frogs.

“He’s going to scout you, you know, until his eyeballs come out,” Texas coach Tom Herman told me said Monday. “He’s going to know when the back is 6 centimeters shaded to the left, you’re 92 percent likely to get this run or this pass or whatever it is. You’ve got to be cognizant of all of your tendencies. You can’t overthink it either, because if you’ve got a tendency and that tendency is working, there’s some merit to it as well.”

A three-game winning streak doesn’t sound like a lot, but it would be huge. It hasn’t happened around here in tackle football since 2014, when Texas, during Charlie Strong’s most successful stretch, knocked off Texas Tech, West Virginia and Oklahoma State before TCU came in and rolled the Horns 48-10 on Thanksgiving night.

In short, we’re about to find out just how far the Horns have come.

TCU is the measuring stick.

For the rest of Cedric’s Nuggets, including his thoughts on Dak Prescott, the rest of the NFL and the Canelo-GGG fight from Saturday, click here.

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